Hardware and Software Requirements (PowerPivot for SharePoint)

SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint runs on application servers in a SharePoint 2010 farm and uses SharePoint features and infrastructure to support server operations.

PowerPivot for SharePoint is an enterprise feature, and it requires the Enterprise edition of SharePoint 2010. You can install PowerPivot for SharePoint using any of the following editions of SQL Server 2008 R2: Developer, Enterprise, Evaluation, Data Center.

A SharePoint farm supports a variety of topologies. If your farm includes dedicated application servers that run just Excel Services or just Central Administration, you must add additional software to support PowerPivot data queries that originate from those servers.

Click the following links to read about system requirements for the following:

The standard SharePoint hardware and software recommendations are for a web-based document management solution for a workgroup or team. Because PowerPivot processing is data intensive, the standard recommendation will be sufficient only if the overall number of users or workbooks being accessed is relatively small (for example, less than 100 concurrent users or workbooks). A larger PowerPivot deployment will require additional computing power.

PowerPivot for SharePoint runs best on new generation business servers that offer higher RAM thresholds and more processing capability. Large RAM is used to store PowerPivot data in memory, providing the ability to adapt to structural changes dynamically. Extra processors support long running scans of raw, un-aggregated data. The data assumes its structure in a dynamic environment, in response to user-driven data analysis initiated through an Excel front-end interface.

The following table describes a minimum and required hardware configuration:

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

64-bit dual-core processor, 3 GHz

4 quad-core servers

RAM

8 gigabytes of RAM

64 gigabytes of RAM

Storage

80 gigabyte storage

80 gigabytes or more

PowerPivot System Service caches PowerPivot data files to the \Microsoft SQL Server\MSAS11.PowerPivot\OLAP\Backup folder to avoid roundtrips to the content database for the same data. Verify that the computer on which you are installing PowerPivot for SharePoint has a large amount of free space, and then monitor disk space availability on your new installation until you are satisfied that the available storage is sufficient for your deployment. For more information about caching, see PowerPivot System Service.

A summary of the software requirements for a PowerPivot for SharePoint deployment includes:

Component

Requirement

Operating system

Windows Server 2008 SP2 or R2 (64-bit)

SharePoint version

SharePoint 2010 Enterprise, with Excel Services, Secure Store Service, and the Claims to Windows Token Service configured in the same server farm.

SharePoint must be installed using the Server Farm option in SharePoint Setup (SharePoint's Standalone installation option is not supported). PowerPivot requires server farm infrastructure to support administrative and data access. The standalone installation does not provide these services.

The developer edition, which runs on Windows 7 or Windows Vista, is not supported for PowerPivot server installations.

SharePoint web application

PowerPivot for SharePoint only supports SharePoint web applications that are configured for classic-mode authentication. If you are adding PowerPivot for SharePoint to an existing farm, be sure that the web application you plan to use it with is configured for classic-mode authentication. For instructions on how to check authentication mode, see the section “Verify the Web application uses Classic mode authentication” in Deploy PowerPivot Solutions.

Data providers required for PowerPivot server-side data refresh

Server-side data refresh repeats the same data retrieval steps used to originally import the data. This means that the data providers used to import the data on a client workstation must also be present on the PowerPivot for SharePoint server.

In addition, using data feeds on a SharePoint server requires that you have ADO.NET Data Services. The SharePoint Prerequisite Installer program does not install this software for you. The following software must be installed manually.

ADO.NET Data Services 3.5 SP1 runtime assemblies, used to export a SharePoint list as a data feed. Download and install the version that matches your operating system:

PowerPivot data access in a SharePoint farm is supported through Analysis Services client libraries that are installed by SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup. Application servers that have an installation of PowerPivot for SharePoint will get the latest version of the client libraries automatically. However, if your farm includes applications that support PowerPivot queries on servers that do not have the PowerPivot for SharePoint software, you must manually install the client libraries on those application servers.

After you install PowerPivot for SharePoint, Central Administration will include a new PowerPivot Management Dashboard that accesses PowerPivot data from an internal reporting database. An Analysis Services client library is required to support PowerPivot data access used to populate reports and web parts in the dashboard.

PowerPivot for Excel is an authoring tool for creating Excel workbooks that contain PowerPivot data. Computers used to create PowerPivot workbooks must meet the minimum hardware and software requirements for Office 2010.

The add-in consumes approximately 25 MB of RAM. An additional 33 MB is consumed when the first PivotTable is added to the worksheet. Additional RAM is required for PowerPivot workbooks. The amount of RAM required will vary depending on the workbook you create.

PowerPivot for Excel imposes RAM and file size limits on the workbooks you create. Maximum file size is 2 GB per workbook, same as the maximum limit for uploading files to SharePoint. This maximum limit ensures that any workbook you create can be uploaded to a SharePoint site later. Because PowerPivot data is compressed, the maximum file size limit of 2 GB translates to approximately 4 GB of data in memory.

100 MB disk space is required for the program files. Additional disk space is required to store data files. Although the files contain compressed data, you might require significant disk space if you create numerous workbooks that contain a very large amount of data. There is no way to know advance what your disk space requirements will be. Be sure to monitor disk space consumption as you create and save files to ensure you have sufficient space.

Hardware Requirements

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

500 megahertz (MHz)

Dual-core processors faster than 2.6 gigahertz (GHz)

RAM

1 GB

4 GB or more

Disk

NTFS file system–formatted partition with a minimum of 3 GB of free space

Software Requirements

If you are using Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you must also install the Platform Update that is available from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/971644. If you are using a server operating system for client applications, be sure to enable the Desktop Experience feature on your computer.

Office Shared Features must be installed with Excel 2010. When installing Excel, you do not need to select any of the items under Office Shared Features, but the parent folder must be selected. Selecting the folder adds Visual Studio Tools for Office to your installation.

You can use Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 without the PowerPivot add-in to view PowerPivot workbooks that have been cached by Excel, but the workbook will not be interactive. Slice and filter operations require the add-in. For more information, see PowerPivot for Excel.